Ibanez was pretty much their starting LF for the majority of the season, until they traded for Ichiro. That's the only big difference there. Otherwise, their bench partially relied on castoffs from the White Sox in Jayson Nix, Dewayne Wise, Chris Stewart, and Andruw Jones.

The Yankees upgraded by trading for Ichiro. The Sox "upgraded" by signing Wise. Big difference.

Wise had an excellent hot streak, but then he regressed to his mean.

__________________The universe is the practical joke of the General at the expense of the Particular, quoth Frater Perdurabo, and laughed. The disciples nearest him wept, seeing the Universal Sorrow. Others laughed, seeing the Universal Joke. Others wept. Others laughed. Others wept because they couldn't see the Joke, and others laughed lest they should be thought not to see the Joke. But though FRATER laughed openly, he wept secretly; and really he neither laughed nor wept. Nor did he mean what he said.